Cogency
by Mariel Nightstalker
Summary: Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott are fellow clerks in a legal firm. Draco thought that they were supposed to hate each other, but Theo can be convincing. SLASH Theo/Draco


**Cogency**

_Cogency: the quality or state of being convincing or persuasive._

I lay awake clear-headed, turning the events of the day over and over in my head. This is one of my worst and unhealthiest habits, as I usually find something that upsets me and occasionally obsess over it.

Tonight my thoughts strayed generally in the direction of my superior, Sir Egbert Quindlen. In some ways he was an easy man to deal with. He had a kind of mad certainty about everything that made his decisions swift and easy. As a lawyer, this was to his distinct advantage. There were negative aspects of this natural ability to dominate and control those around him, though. For instance, it was very hard to resist his wishes or even argue back. It was especially hard for me, because Sir Egbert reminds me of my father and I guess I still subconsciously view all who remind me of my father as my master.

Sir Egbert knows damn well that Theodore Nott, the other clerk, and I do not get along, and yet he saw fit to not only assign us to the same case but to demand that we share Mirabel's office while she is out of town so that we can keep all the files together. He said some bullshit about security at the time that didn't fool me for a minute. That old bastard is out to get me back for calling his wife fat. How was I to know that he had chosen that day to eat in the same café as Pansy and I, much less that he was going to eavesdrop on our obviously private conversation?

I had to come up with a way to get back at the old reprobate somehow, but without him knowing it was me.

I resolved to meet Pansy again as soon as possible. I hate to admit it, but that bint is terribly skilled at revenge as I learned from personal experience when I accidentally told her mother that she was having an affair with a married man.

~000~

There were a number of reasons for Draco's hatred of Theodore Nott. For one, his umbrellas were always maddeningly furled with precise neatness that defied all replication. At odds with this, he had a look of vulgar insouciance about him that set his teeth on edge.

Due to a SNAFU with his landlady, Draco was almost an hour late to work the next day, frazzled and exhausted from a sleepless night and the altercation with Madam Philidora.

"Sorry I'm late," he said more out of habit than genuine apology.

"I am insane with anger." The droll tone Theo said those words with betrayed their meaning. Dressed in his usual grey-themed attire, Theo was the picture of the business man that still found time to take care with his appearance. His shoes alone were a sartorial wet dream. Draco reluctantly dragged his eyes away from the fashionable slim cut of Theo's trousers and sat down to work.

They managed to work mostly in silence and communicated only in monosyllables or in notes stuck to documents that they passed back and forth. When not fighting their productivity was high as their skills complimented each other almost perfectly. It also helped that they had attended the same short-hand class and therefore wrote in the same language.

Despite his bad temper, Draco managed to get quite a lot of work done and keep pace with Theo, who was like a demon when he worked. In short order it was time for lunch and Draco bolted for the restaurant he was meeting Pansy in, hoping she would be in the right frame of mind to help him.

Twenty minutes later he was pretending to be listening to her complaints about Teddy Lupin, Professor Lupin's apparently drop-dead sexy son, who had rejected her.

"His snobbiness really gets my goat," she seethed, taking a savage stab at her salad. "Who does he think he is? Yeah, he's hot, but I am clearly out of his league and was doing him a favor by asking him out. Hell, I'm a fucking _catch. _I'm an older woman with a reputation for being fantastic in the sack, I'm gorgeous, I'm classy, and I'm rich! Dickhead."

Draco refrained from mentioning that she was also known as a notorious man eater and avoided by all sensible young men whose choices in women were not dominated by their groins. His mental esteem of Teddy Lupin went up. Few men his age had the sense to say no to Pansy.

Finally he got her to stop talking about herself and listen to him. She hummed and sucked on her lips in thought as he presented his sorry case, nodding occasionally. When he had finished she said,

"But I thought you were attracted to Theo. Isn't this a chance for you to finally get your knickers out of the freezer and get laid? How long has it been now? Three years?"

"Well aren't you Miss Sharp, straight out of the knife box?" Draco retorted, neither confirming nor denying her accusation that he was attracted to Theo. It wasn't his fault that Theo was sexy in a way, and it had absolutely nothing to do with getting back at Sir Egbert.

She cackled.

"Fine, fine, I'll help you. But I want you to understand that you owe me a favor for this, which I _will _collect someday."

He shuddered inside even as he shook hands with her.

Two weeks later she sent him a letter detailing a devious plan. Draco was to write a series of fake love letters to Aurora Egbert with built-in detection charms that would allow Sir Egbert to find them even if they were read or partially destroyed.

A secret romantic, though he wouldn't admit it under torture, Draco enjoyed writing the letters, though he had to proof read them multiple times to make sure that they were consistently addressed to Aurora and made no mentions of glorious tailoring or sparkly teeth, both of which Theo possessed.

From the disgruntled look on Sir Egbert's face, the letters had been found. The first time Draco caught him reading one of them at his desk he almost fainted from glee and had to make a swift exit after dropping off his packet. In the hall, too distracted to concentrate on his surroundings, he crashed into Theo and fell down.

Theo immediately knelt at his side and asked,

"Are you alright?"

"Golden. Jerk face."

Theo snorted and helped him up. Draco could've sworn that he felt one of Theo's swift hands sweep over his backside but it happened so quickly that he couldn't be absolutely sure.

"Thanks," he mumbled and went back to their office. Theo followed and sat down across from him. The case they were working on together had been finished yesterday, and they were packing up the supplies and research that they'd been using for the past weeks. Notes were crumpled and tossed in the trash; pens were tested and tossed if found dry; a sock was discovered beneath one of the chairs.

They worked in silence for several minutes before Theo asked,

"Why are you pranking Quindlen?"

"I'm not," Draco replied with just the right tone to conceal his guilt. From the sardonic tilt to Theo's smile, he could tell he hadn't concealed himself well enough. Still, he wasn't going to admit to anything.

"Tell you what. Go out with me tonight and I won't drop any hints to Quindlen that the notes might not be genuine."

Draco's head jerked up, an angry refusal on his lips.

But then he saw that Theo was serious. He also saw that he was wearing a very nice shirt that looked white at first glance but was really a very pale blue. It brought out his eyes nicely and…

Draco was dimly aware that he was staring.

~000~

Theo took him to his club for dinner, the Epigram. The Epigram was very exclusive and renowned for their incredibly high fees; in fact their fees were so high that even Draco wasn't a member. Draco took a look at the other patrons and found most of them to be over 100 and clearly in some kind of old boys club that Draco was not privy to.

The cigar smoke that hovered like a threatening cloud over their heads did not detract from the delicious meal that Theo took the liberty of ordering without consulting Draco's opinion. Draco would have protested but Theo had somehow ordered all of his favorites.

He had no intention of talking to Theo seeing as he was here from blackmail. Theo drew him out anyway and made him talk about his mother, Pansy, and why he'd decided to get into law when his family was so clearly adverse to it. As the rich food began to make him feel heavy and the free-flowing drink dizzied his head, he sank into something of a stupor. Theo told him, without being asked, about his own family and ambitions.

Draco was content to sit and listen, numb and comfortable like he hadn't been in years. He snapped out of his stupor when Theo dragged his fingers down his cheek and through his hair. The club dining room had emptied as the evening went on, and they were alone but for an elderly gentleman dining alone on the other side of the room.

"Hey, are you still there?"

Draco mumbled something, his tongue thick. Theo's eyes were very soft and his touch had felt much nicer than Draco anticipated. He wondered if it was just loneliness or if he really did feel fond of Theo right then.

"I'll take that as a yes. By the way, there's something I wanted to tell you. Quindlen isn't the only one who can be persuasive. I bet you didn't know that I talked him into having us work together on that project. Let me tell you, it took some real effort."

And with that, Theo leant in and kissed him. Draco was speechless and quite incapable of doing anything about Theo's boldness. He had accused the wrong man!

All in all, he didn't mind being manipulated too much, though he was already planning revenge. Theo was a prick, but he was a gorgeous prick and Draco really did need to stop his self-enforced lifestyle of celibacy.

~000~

End Cogency


End file.
